from Florida Home Builders Association
The Southeast regional offices of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will increase enforcement efforts aimed at reducing an upward trend in construction-related fall fatalities.
Falls are one of the four leading causes of employee fatalities in the Southeast, according to an OSHA press release.
The agency is currently identifying sites throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi that may be exposing workers to fall hazards and conducting unannounced inspections at those sites.
Additionally, all other hazards in plain sight will be addressed during the inspections.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, builders and trade contractors should pay particular attention to the following hazards, which are the top 10 most frequently cited OSHA standards in 2011 (with the reference to the specific OSHA standard in parentheses):
• Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451).
• Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501).
• Hazard communication standard, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200).
• Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053).
• Respiratory protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134.
• Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147).
• Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment, general industry (29 CFR 1910.305).
• Powered industrial trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178).
• Electrical systems design, general requirements, general industry (29 CFR 1910.303).
• Fall protection, training requirements (29 CFR 1926.503).
NAHB has several resources to assist builders including handbooks and videos that present key safety issues builders and workers need to focus on to reduce accidents and injuries, which can be found at www.builderbooks.com/safety and NAHB’s Construction Safety & OSHA webpage, which contains compliance assistance information at www.nahb.org/safety.